EGG DONATION LAW

An egg donation agreement exists so that each party can state their intentions and acknowledge their legal responsibilities to one another. The agreement will also clearly state that the donor does not intend to parent any resulting child(ren) and does not wish to have physical or legal custody of any resulting eggs, embryos or child(ren).

Each state has different laws on egg donation. It is important for you to know not only the laws regarding egg donation, but also the laws on the steps you will need to take to establish yourself as parent within that state. International Fertility Law Group has experienced attorneys throughout the United States.

Preparing and finalizing your egg donation agreement involves several steps. The following briefly describes the process from start to finish:

• We’ll first send you a written attorney services agreement to review. It will explain the services we will provide and the cost. Sign and date it, and send it back to our office with your payment.
• Once we have your signed attorney services agreement, we’ll start work.
• We’ll prepare the first draft of your egg donation agreement and send you a copy for review. Read it carefully, and call or email us with your questions, comments or suggested revisions. You should plan to review the agreement and contact us within two days after you receive it, to keep the process moving forward without delays.
• The egg donor will receive your approved draft for review with an attorney. If the egg donor requests any changes, we’ll review them and send you a redlined version, showing the requested changes. We will advise you accordingly, negotiate any needed revisions, finalize the agreement and send it out for signature with signing instructions.
• Once we receive signatures from all parties, we will issue a “legal clearance” letter to inform your IVF Physician that you are legally cleared to proceed with your cycle.

If you will be using a surrogate as well as an egg donor, please see our Surrogacy Agreement FAQs tab above for a step-by-step explanation of how surrogacy agreements are prepared.

The finalization of your egg donation agreement can take anywhere from two to three weeks, depending on how quickly the drafts of the agreement are reviewed and approved. We start working on the agreement once the donor is medically cleared, and we are generally able produce a draft of your egg donation agreement within 48 hours of receiving the signed attorney services agreement and the necessary information regarding your match with your egg donor. We must then account for the time needed for you to review the agreement, as well as the time needed for the egg donor to review the agreement.

Most IVF Physician’s offices require an egg donation agreement to be signed before your egg donor begins injectable medications. It is always best to have an egg donation agreement prepared and signed as soon as possible.

We offer single-price, all-inclusive service packages, as well as reasonable hourly rates. Please call our office for further pricing information.

It is in your and your egg donor’s best interest to have an attorney who is knowledgeable about egg donation law explain the agreement to your egg donor.

Pursuant to the egg donation agreement, the eggs belong to the intended parents from the moment of retrieval, so it is extremely unlikely that an egg donor could assert any parental rights.

If meeting in the future or having the possibility of future contract is desired, then before a match is made, you should make sure the donor knows this (or lists in her profile that she is open to this). If the donor agrees to your request, we will write the necessary language into the egg donation agreement.

Most egg donation agreements refer to the parties by an identification number. As such, you would sign the agreement with your identification number.

Because all of our work is completed via email, fax, phone/video conferencing, FedEx and U.S. mail, you never need to come to our office, although of course you are very welcome to visit us any time.